California State University San Bernardino College of Business & Public Administration Monty Van Wart
Agenda
Historical background on government Models of government-business relations
88,000 governments!
Federal: 1 State: 50 County: over 3000 City: 20,000 Townships (largely in East): 16,500 Districts
School districts: 13,500 Special (purpose) districts (water, sewer, sanitation, fire protection, community college, library, conservation, etc.): 35,400
Government lacks the qualities to manage a countrys economy successfully. Nonintervention by the state in economic matters is the wisest policy. Institutions should emphasize the advantages of freely operating markets.
It was associated with mercantilism which guided British policy toward colonial America Government should control all aspects of economic activity in order to increase the wealth, unity, and power of the state. Hamilton urged the national government to aid fledging industries by providing economic assistance and tariff protection.
See http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2007/pdf/hist.pdf for historical data, especially tables 7.1 for debt, and 17.5 for government employment figures
Started very small but has grown over time 0.8% of population worked for government Examples: National bank (20th century Federal Reserve)
http://www.ushistory.org/tour/tour_1bank.htm , http://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/default.htm
Provision of infrastructure: postal, roads, ports, canals, levees, railroads (example #1, Erie Canal: http://www.canals.state.ny.us/index.html ;
example #2, railroads: http://www.cprr.org/Museum/Maps/ , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Pacific_Railway )
Government contracts: building and repairing roads and bridges, army materiel (for example see http://www.dla.mil and go to Agency Briefing), protection (Government as purchaser) Nonetheless, still relatively defined and modest
Insurance (social security, FDIC, savings and loan, flood, etc.); welfare, corporate loans and bailouts regulation of business and protection of public good (licensing, OSHA, FDA, SEC, zoning, building codes, etc.)
http://www.sec.gov/about/whatwedo.shtml
Government as regulator
Examples: http://www.osha.gov/as/opa/oshafacts.html ;
Education Comprehensive plans, grants system National heritage: historical sites, parks, wildlife diversity
example: land grant universities http://www.sanbag.ca.gov/planning/subr_ctp-details.html
Demise of USSR and Cold War, Slow conversion of China from communism and India from socialism, Sharp reduction of government services in Westminister countries New Zealand, Britain, Australia, etc.
Increase in global competition
State and local employment have continued to increase proportionally with population, currently 19,000,000 (total all gov=23m)
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Greatest during national emergencies Civil War WWI Great Depression (1929-1940) WWII (1941-1945) War on Terror? Economic booms In general, the 20th century was an age of government: Invention of the income tax (16th Amendment of 1913); Great Depression and WWII; Perceived successes of government Growth has slowed after 1978
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Federal debt growth (see US National Debt Clock for up to the minute debt owed,
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/ ) (see the national GDP and last years debt ratio https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/)
Source: http://zfacts.com/p/318.html
Why the growth of government despite the historical preference for small government?
To placate interest groups over time Difficulties shrinking government after periods of government expansion More complex societies tend to need more government (Wagners law)
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What are the proper roles for government? The still more sophisticated question: to what degree and how should government play the various roles?
The answer is ultimately defined by society over time. Compare the dramatically different perspectives of social systems primarily defined by subsistence, heritage, religion, capital, social equity, military prowess, etc. In the American context,
the argument is generally discussed in terms of what is inherently governmental (a core government responsibility) and not inherently government (functions that may or may not be run by the government depending on the conditions and the will of society). Nongovernmental functions would include industry, commerce, private ownership, volunteerism, etc.
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National defense and civil order (e.g., military and police) Maintenance of economy, e.g., fiscal and tax policy, regulation of markets and competition Core public interest activities (public goods such as parks and national treasures, public transportation, education, welfare, disasters, etc.) and civil liberties Regulation of
society for common good (laws prohibiting murder to trespassing to jay-walking) and business (laws prohibiting air pollution and requiring record keeping); especially for this class zoning and physical/environmental planning
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(e.g., postal service, utilities, airline transportation security, garbage collection, insurance programs) not necessarily inherently governmental and meant to be relatively self-financing
from reducing blight in developed areas to maximizing new development in undeveloped lands
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Business
Business operates within a market environment, responding primarily to powerful economic forces and being sheltered from direct impact by social and political forces. Government interference in economic life is slight (laissez-faire) and undesirable.
Government regulation should be limited. Markets discipline private economic activity to promote social welfare. The proper measure of corporate performance is profit. The ethical duty of management is to promote the interests of shareholders.
BusinessGovernment
Masses
Business and government dominate the great mass of people Corporations and a powerful elite control a system that enriches a few at the expense of the many Such a system is undemocratic
in addition to a description of how things are.
Proponents of the model focus on the defects and inefficiencies of capitalism that
Corporations are insulated from pressures holding them responsible Regulation by government to big business is feeble Market forces are inadequate to ensure ethical management
The ideal is to turn it upside down so that government business relationship conforms to democratic principles.
large trusts such as Standard Oil emerged, buying politicians, exploiting workers, monopolizing markets, and sharpening income inequality.
* The model gained a following during the latter half of the 19th century when
The Public
Values Opinion Demands Supports
Corporations
Market operations Influence efforts Lobbying Leadership
Government
Statutes Regulations Political leadership Partisan behavior
Government business relationship is a flow of interactions among the major elements of society. It suggests complex exchanges of influence among them, attributing dominance to none. It differs from the market capitalism model by opening business directly to influence by nonmarket forces.
Overarching conclusions:
Business is deeply integrated into an open society and must respond to many forces, both economic and noneconomic. Business is a major initiator of change through its interaction with government. Broad public support of business depends on its adjustment to multiple social, political, and economic forces. Government business relationships continuously evolve as changes take place in the main ideas, institutions, and processes of society.
Stockholders
Future Generations Suppliers
Governments
Customers
Corporation
Earths Biosphere Trade Associations
Primary stakeholders have immediate, continuous, and powerful impact. Secondary stakeholders have less mutual immediacy, benefit, burden, or power to influence.
Religious Groups
Communities
Employees
Political Parties
Creditors Unions
The model is an ethical theory of management , in which the welfare of each stakeholder must be considered as an end.
The model
Rejects the shareholder-centered view of the firm in the market capitalism model as too limited in focus and time Creates duties toward multiple constituents of the corporation Requires business management raise its gaze above short-term profits to see and respond to a spectrum of other values
It is not a realistic assessment of power relationships between the corporation and other entities, as it seeks to give power to the powerless by replacing force with ethical duty, a timeless and often futile quest of moralists. It sets up too vague a guideline to substitute for the yardstick of profits for investors, without clear and objective measures to evaluate the combined ethical/economic performance of a firm. It is not clear who or what is a legitimate stakeholder, to what each stakeholder is entitled, or how managers should balance competing demands among a range of stakeholders.